Carmelo Anthony Defends His Nightly Effort

Kenny Smith and Sir Charles went in on ‘Melo last week, questioning his effort this season, but Anthony and his coach say those two have no clue what they’re talking about. From the Denver Post: “I personally think Melo is having an all-star season,’ [George Karl] said. ‘I know it’s a difficult year for him mentally in some ways, but in general you’ve got to give Melo a good grade for what he’s done so far this year. I personally don’t think Kenny and Charles watch all of our games. I don’t think they’re staying up and watching Melo play.’ Anthony, who has said repeatedly he’s keeping his options open regarding signing a contract extension with the Nuggets, is fourth in the league in scoring at 25.4 points per game and is averaging career highs in the hustle stats of rebounds (9.1) and steals (1.50) … ‘I think they might be the only two people that say I don’t play hard,’ Anthony said. ‘How can you say that? I go out there hard every night. But I don’t pay those guys no mind. I know what I’m doing. Everybody sees what I’m doing. I come out and play as hard as I can every night. It just so happens that the game that I didn’t play well was on TNT. We didn’t play well, we lost. They needed something to say.’”